Oregon State: A college that goes wherever you go

Janine Romero knows the struggle. She started working toward
her bachelor’s degree at 19 while living overseas with her husband, Lee, who is
active duty in the Air Force. Lee’s PCS orders took them all over, including
Europe, and that meant Janine’s degree pursuit moved at a stop-and-go pace.

“I had all these transcripts from all these different
schools, and I didn’t have a degree,” says Janine, who is now in her 30s and lives
on the Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis, New Mexico.

She needed to try something different to reach the finish
line, so she looked for a university that could go anywhere she did. Her
criteria: a military-friendly university that offered a well-rounded education online
to fulfill her interests in the humanities and sciences.

She found her match in Oregon State University Ecampus.

Although she earned her bachelor’s
degree in liberal studies online, Janine built a connection to Oregon
State through her classmates and instructors, as well as OSU’s military
representatives. They answered questions about transferring her husband’s
military benefits and balancing school with life as a military spouse.

“The military resources were wonderful,” she says. “Every
question I had, every phone call I made, every email I sent was returned to me,
and it was kind, knowledgeable and informational.”

In her OSU Ecampus classes, she interacted closely with
instructors, experienced hands-on learning through lab kits and took virtual
field trips that made her feel connected to the university.

“Nothing was far away,” she says. “I was always afraid that
I would just be a number as an Ecampus student. I felt like the instructors knew
who I was and it’s because I was able to engage with them as often as I did.”

And in June 2018, after all the stops and starts, Janine became
a college graduate.

“I wish I could express what that means to me. The whole
experience just makes me feel good, it makes me feel proud, it makes me feel
accomplished, and I’m grateful for Oregon State.”